Steel and Hoogovens set date for marriage

British Steel said that its £3 billion takeover of Dutch rival Hoogovens should be forged by mid-October.

A decision on whether to make a public offer for the outstanding depositary receipts for Hoogovens' ordinary shares will be made in mid-August. The two companies are talking about the deal being a merger, and British Steel will drop the 'British' to become BSKH - not be confused with HSBC, the name for Midland Bank since its takeover by the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Yet British Steel's 62% stake will make it the majority partner in the alliance, which will become the world's third biggest steelmaker after Nippon Steel and Posco of South Korea. British Steel chief executive John Bryant said 'several thou-sand' of the combined group's total of 66,000 employees will lose their jobs.